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Monday, February 15, 2016

UK to ban public bodies from boycotting Israel

The British government is to announce measures aimed at preventing
local councils, unions and other public institutions from launching
boycotts against the State of Israel this week.

Cabinet Office Minister Matthew Hancock told The Times the new
guidelines were important to prevent discriminatory boycotts against the
Jewish state, which he said both stoked anti-Semitism and harmed the
UK's valuable trade relations with Israel.

The guidelines would enable the government itself to take action
against organizations which boycott Israel, as well as empowering other
bodies to take boycotters to court. They would prevent any public body from promoting a boycott of
country signed up to the World Trade Organization's
government procedural agreement, the paper reported.

Recent years have seen far-left-dominated unions and several
local councils embarking on highly politicized, controversial campaigns
to boycott the Jewish state - campaigns Jewish rights groups say have
helped fanned anti-Israel hysteria which often spills over into acts of
anti-Semitism.